Ecotourism in the Mountains of Sikkim, India

by The Mountain Institute

Partners:

The Mountain Institute (TMI) G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development (GBPIHED) Travel Agents Association of Sikkim (TAAS) The Green Circle

Success Stories

In an extremely busy and rewarding year for staff, collaborators and participants, picking out one or two success stories does not fully capture the excitement, pride and ownership that participants have shown in the project. Instead we asked participants to record their assessment and impressions. Some of these are given below, and we hope that they convey the positive changes seen.

"Through the project I have been able to enhance my own capacity and learn techniques of data collection. After attending trainings, I have learned many things and in dealing with the community I have earned more respect from them."

-- Kingzong Bhutia, Sikkim Biodiversity and
Ecotourism (SBE) Community Assistant.

"One of the greatest successes of the SBE project I feel, is that it has involved local people from the grass-roots level and given importance to their participation which has made people take pride and they will cherish the fruits of this in the future."

- Pema Gyaltsin, School Teacher, Yuksam.

"The project has empowered local people to a great extent to take part in community initiatives and has set a trend to take actions instead of only talking. Examples are the Kathok Lake clean-up, road to Norbugang and Forest Guest House clean-up, getting benches for Norbugang, Dubdi Monastery, Kathok Lake and the Trekkers' Huts."

-- Chewang Bhutia, Engineer.

"Another significant change in Yuksam is the operation of the lodge operators. They have become much better in their service and entire operations after trainings."

-- Sherab Bhutia, Social Worker.

"The best thing about the KNP workshop was the involvement of the people from different sectors and backgrounds taking part in the biodiversity and management issues of KNP, and the methodology of the facilitators to get input and participation from all the participants."

-- K. N. Bhutia, Additional Secretary, Department of Tourism (GoS).

"The best thing about the KNP workshop was that it was the first time that the government departments felt it relevant to discuss and talk with the community stakeholders on National Park conservation and management issues and come out with positive recommendations."

-- Pema Bhutia General Secretary, Khanchendzonga Conservation Committee, Yuksam.

"In future all concerned planning for conservation in KNP should come out through one platform with active participation from different stakeholders."

-- Gut Lepcha, Field Director, Khangchendzonga National Park.

Challenges

A major success this year, the emergence of a community based non-government organization the Khanchendzonga Conservation Committee (KCC) also presents a significant challenge to the project -- how to support this organization in its efforts to play a positive role in conservation and development? This question highlights a key issue in the project -- how to institutionalize activities and processes introduced by the project so that they are sustainable in the long-term? Local organizations and institutions present a promising avenue, but require initial investment in capacity building to manage themselves and their activities.

As the project enters its third year, we face a challenge and an opportunity to hand over activities to local groups who will be in a position to continue and modify them as necessary in the future. KCC has already conducted training for porters and raised a small amount of funds for garbage management in Yuksam.

On a more practical level, an unusually long monsoon highlighted the difficult conditions that participants operate under, in fragile mountain environments. Due to numerous landslides, on several occasions, staff were cut off from sites and the capital of Gangtok. These conditions have hampered project activities, affecting staff visits to the field, as well as communications. To some extent we have overcome the communication delays by using laptop computers in the field and recently acquired e-mail capabilities. Landslides on the other hand continue to test everyone's ability to manage complex logistical arrangements and maintain sense of humor under difficult circumstances.

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